markedbychrist
New member
I’d like to share my experience so far going through pregnancy, birth and postpartum in the fitness sense—more specifically, as a powerlifter. I was so frustrated at the lack of content I found searching during pregnancy (thank you Meg Squats for leading the way!) Although I didn’t do the big 3 as much as I imagined during pregnancy, I still very much think my background influenced how it went, and I hope to add to r/powerlifting once my training becomes a bit more sport specific again!
Pre-pregnancy: I am a bit vertically challenged, 4’ 11”, and have always been smaller. However, consistent fitness has been part of my life for a decade, so I’m not really sure what is genetics vs. workload in my case. I started powerlifting in 2014. I last competed in March 2021, a month before I got pregnant, doing a bit of a YOLO meet.
Pregnancy: Both COVID and my own personal limits challenged the idea that I’d lift heavy weights throughout my pregnancy. From about weeks 12-24, I did feet up/incline bench, and light beltless squats and deadlifts. With cases on the rise and just not feeling comfortable trying to hide my growing belly at my HOA gym (I definitely live in a place where someone could say something stupid), I started working out at home. I was noticing some coning in a few movements, so I really had to be vigilant of my form and modify as necessary. By the third trimester, I was working with 5-10 lb dumbbells doing mainly upper body and body weight squats, and walking my dog a LOT. I felt so unlike myself—I’d get tired standing in the kitchen cooking! Definitely a lot to mentally swallow, with a constant reminder it was all temporary.
Birth: I had a very long 21 hour medical induction that ended in a c-section. I think the main contributions to this were: my induction STARTING AT 2 AM (let’s run a marathon at the crack of dawn, why not?), baby facing “sunny side up”, and developing a fever towards the end. But maybe everything could have went textbook perfect and I’d still have the ending I did, who knows.
Postpartum: as selfish as I felt, my first thought when I was told I needed a c-section was “cool, now recovery is going to be even longer”. And the beginning did absolutely suck. If I thought I needed to be humbled towards the end of my pregnancy, now I couldn’t even put on my own pants because of fluid swelling. However, the changes I saw week by week were incredible!
Day 4: went on my first walk outside…for about 6 minutes. My husband would walk the dog and I would push the stroller, then I’d turn around and they would continue without us. I worked my way up. Started working on diaphragmatic breathing.
Week 3: 10 minute walks with the dog while baby wearing (sadly, husband returned to work). Worked my way up again.
Week 4-6: this is when my son spent the majority of his time in the hospital (about a month total, surgery and then infection from surgery a week later). I mention this because wow, does stress do things. My exercise was walking the dog when my husband took his turns at the hospital, and a lap around the building when a nurse watched my son. Since my walking space was limited and I knew my 6 week check up was around the corner, by week 5 I SLOWLY introduced a resistance band in the hospital room. I did 2x10 of band walks, rows, glute bridges, pull aparts, and maybe 10 squats. It felt so good!
Weeks 6-12: once cleared by my doctor, I started using light dumbbells again. I mainly did squats, floor dumbbell presses, overhead presses, glute bridges, single-arm rows, and single leg deadlifts. I also focused on stretching and ab stability, with movements like bird dogs and cat/cow. And don’t forget diaphragmatic breathing! I started with 2x8 and would increase reps/sets each work out, then increase the weight after a week or two. Still lots of walking and eventually hiking. Around week 7, I went on a hike with friends saying “I wasn’t ready for an 8 mile hike yet, something more like 4-6”…then we got lost and did 8 miles anyway
but I felt great!
Week 12+/present: I just graduated to using a 30lb bar. I hope to use my brand new Rogue power bar in the next week or two.
My future goals: months 3-6 I plan on transitioning to more powerlifting-style workouts, but not committing myself to any programming. Just enjoying lifting again. Around months 6-9, I hope to take training a bit more seriously, and my ultimate goal is to compete again within 12-18 months of birth. These are my loose goals based on what I think I’m capable of, giving myself some grace along the way.
I’ve heard a ton of fit women say they don’t necessarily think fitness helped with labor, but definitely contributed to recovery, and I think that’s so true in my case as well! The first week I could barely get out of bed, let alone take care of someone else too. But within a few weeks, I felt a version of myself coming back. I say a version because physically and mentally, I’m not the same.
I think my powerlifting background helped me accept the physical changes that comes with having a baby. Lifting heavy changed my body, and I wasn’t going to let that stop me from getting something I love out of it. The battle for me was just feeling weak when I worked so hard for so long to feel strong. Mentally, I think this experience will make me a stronger athlete. I’m able to embrace chaos and life changes with more acceptance that this too shall pass.
Here is a picture of my progress. From left to right: 10 days before baby, 10 days after baby, 7 weeks postpartum, 12 weeks postpartum. I weighed the same as I did walking into the hospital as I did walking out. A ton of night sweats, the stress of a hospital, many Clif bars and a few workouts later, I am within about five pounds of my starting weight. The human body is so wild!
If you made it this far, thanks for reading! :}
Pre-pregnancy: I am a bit vertically challenged, 4’ 11”, and have always been smaller. However, consistent fitness has been part of my life for a decade, so I’m not really sure what is genetics vs. workload in my case. I started powerlifting in 2014. I last competed in March 2021, a month before I got pregnant, doing a bit of a YOLO meet.
Pregnancy: Both COVID and my own personal limits challenged the idea that I’d lift heavy weights throughout my pregnancy. From about weeks 12-24, I did feet up/incline bench, and light beltless squats and deadlifts. With cases on the rise and just not feeling comfortable trying to hide my growing belly at my HOA gym (I definitely live in a place where someone could say something stupid), I started working out at home. I was noticing some coning in a few movements, so I really had to be vigilant of my form and modify as necessary. By the third trimester, I was working with 5-10 lb dumbbells doing mainly upper body and body weight squats, and walking my dog a LOT. I felt so unlike myself—I’d get tired standing in the kitchen cooking! Definitely a lot to mentally swallow, with a constant reminder it was all temporary.
Birth: I had a very long 21 hour medical induction that ended in a c-section. I think the main contributions to this were: my induction STARTING AT 2 AM (let’s run a marathon at the crack of dawn, why not?), baby facing “sunny side up”, and developing a fever towards the end. But maybe everything could have went textbook perfect and I’d still have the ending I did, who knows.
Postpartum: as selfish as I felt, my first thought when I was told I needed a c-section was “cool, now recovery is going to be even longer”. And the beginning did absolutely suck. If I thought I needed to be humbled towards the end of my pregnancy, now I couldn’t even put on my own pants because of fluid swelling. However, the changes I saw week by week were incredible!
Day 4: went on my first walk outside…for about 6 minutes. My husband would walk the dog and I would push the stroller, then I’d turn around and they would continue without us. I worked my way up. Started working on diaphragmatic breathing.
Week 3: 10 minute walks with the dog while baby wearing (sadly, husband returned to work). Worked my way up again.
Week 4-6: this is when my son spent the majority of his time in the hospital (about a month total, surgery and then infection from surgery a week later). I mention this because wow, does stress do things. My exercise was walking the dog when my husband took his turns at the hospital, and a lap around the building when a nurse watched my son. Since my walking space was limited and I knew my 6 week check up was around the corner, by week 5 I SLOWLY introduced a resistance band in the hospital room. I did 2x10 of band walks, rows, glute bridges, pull aparts, and maybe 10 squats. It felt so good!
Weeks 6-12: once cleared by my doctor, I started using light dumbbells again. I mainly did squats, floor dumbbell presses, overhead presses, glute bridges, single-arm rows, and single leg deadlifts. I also focused on stretching and ab stability, with movements like bird dogs and cat/cow. And don’t forget diaphragmatic breathing! I started with 2x8 and would increase reps/sets each work out, then increase the weight after a week or two. Still lots of walking and eventually hiking. Around week 7, I went on a hike with friends saying “I wasn’t ready for an 8 mile hike yet, something more like 4-6”…then we got lost and did 8 miles anyway
but I felt great! Week 12+/present: I just graduated to using a 30lb bar. I hope to use my brand new Rogue power bar in the next week or two.
My future goals: months 3-6 I plan on transitioning to more powerlifting-style workouts, but not committing myself to any programming. Just enjoying lifting again. Around months 6-9, I hope to take training a bit more seriously, and my ultimate goal is to compete again within 12-18 months of birth. These are my loose goals based on what I think I’m capable of, giving myself some grace along the way.
I’ve heard a ton of fit women say they don’t necessarily think fitness helped with labor, but definitely contributed to recovery, and I think that’s so true in my case as well! The first week I could barely get out of bed, let alone take care of someone else too. But within a few weeks, I felt a version of myself coming back. I say a version because physically and mentally, I’m not the same.
I think my powerlifting background helped me accept the physical changes that comes with having a baby. Lifting heavy changed my body, and I wasn’t going to let that stop me from getting something I love out of it. The battle for me was just feeling weak when I worked so hard for so long to feel strong. Mentally, I think this experience will make me a stronger athlete. I’m able to embrace chaos and life changes with more acceptance that this too shall pass.
Here is a picture of my progress. From left to right: 10 days before baby, 10 days after baby, 7 weeks postpartum, 12 weeks postpartum. I weighed the same as I did walking into the hospital as I did walking out. A ton of night sweats, the stress of a hospital, many Clif bars and a few workouts later, I am within about five pounds of my starting weight. The human body is so wild!
If you made it this far, thanks for reading! :}